He thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules, frequently emulating the legendary hero's feats by appearing in the arena to fight a variety of wild animals. [7] On 8April 217 Caracalla was travelling to visit a temple near Carrhae, now Harran in southern Turkey, where in 53BC the Romans had suffered a defeat at the hands of the Parthians. 5. It is presumed that there, on 15 October 172, he was given the victory title Germanicus, in the presence of the army. "For me, [the rainfall-assassination hypothesis] adds another layer of complexity and nuance to our understanding of the political history of the Roman Empire, especially in the third century," Conant told Live Science. [7] Martialis had been incensed by Caracalla's refusal to grant him the position of centurion, and the praetorian prefect Macrinus, Caracalla's successor, saw the opportunity to use Martialis to end Caracalla's reign. Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163. Yes, really. Commodus accompanied his father during the Marcomannic Wars in 172 and on a tour of the Eastern provinces in 176. They bungled the job and were seized by the emperor's bodyguard. Marcus Aurelius died there on 17 March 180, leaving the 18-year-old Commodus as sole emperor.[19]. Commodus was inaugurated in 183 as consul with Aufidius Victorinus as colleague and assumed the title Pius. The most coveted positions of state were held by the charioteers, athletes, and slaves whose job it was to satisfy Elagabaluss carnal needs. [42][43] For each appearance in the arena, he charged the city of Rome a million sesterces, straining the Roman economy. [34] As mentioned above, he ordered many statues to be made showing him dressed as Hercules with a lion's hide and a club. Lounging in a golden robe . Here, BBC History Revealed recount some of the unusual ways that Ancient Rome's rulers have met their ends. Whoever the writer really was, his tone was decidedly sensationalist: The life of Elagabalus Antoninus, also called Varius, I should never have put in writinghoping that it might not be known that he was emperor of the Romans.. Can we do the same? Last fall, Manning and his colleagues published a study in the journal Nature (opens in new tab) on how volcanic activity may have led to the drier conditions that doomed the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, Live Science previously reported. Around this time, Bassianus had inherited his familys position as high priest and was worshipping the god Elah-Gabal in his home city in Syria. [7], He was looked after by his father's physician, Galen,[8][9] who treated many of Commodus' common illnesses. [22], Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory. [12], In 199, he was inducted into the Arval Brethren. In A.D. 41, a cabal of Praetorian Guards the . Pompeianus retired from public life. Vitellius was a Roman emperor for eight months. P. A. Brunt, "The Fall of Perennis: Dio-Xiphilinus 79.9.2". Print. [10] He had a slightly younger brother, Geta, with whom Caracalla briefly ruled as co-emperor. Whether the cause was treason, ill-luck or ineptitude, it was a rare thing for a Roman emperor to die of old age. Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commodus&oldid=1149998986, Roman emperors murdered by the Praetorian Guard, Roman emperors to suffer posthumous denigration or damnatio memoriae, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from EB9, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Commodus is a minor antagonist in the 2005 video game, Commodus appears as one of the antagonists in the popular young adult fiction novel series, dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships. [38], Caracalla also erected a temple on the Quirinal Hill in 212, which he dedicated to Serapis. According to Cassius Dio, Perennis, though ruthless and ambitious, was not personally corrupt and was a generally good administrator.[23]. [81], The Historia Augusta is considered by historians as the least trustworthy for all accounts of events, historiography, and biographies among the ancient works and is full of fabricated materials and sources. The artworks may have served as a warning that absolute monarchy could become the horror of tyranny and that disaster could come about if the regime failed to reform. Pescennius Niger dealt with the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign. [61] He spent much of his time with the soldiers, so much so that he began to imitate their dress and adopt their manners. [17][22] Caracalla adopted his father's cognomen, Severus, and assumed the chief priesthood as pontifex maximus. He offered the king of Parthia, Artabanus IV of Parthia, a marriage proposal between himself and the king's daughter. 2y. [36] The Romans found Commodus' gladiatorial combat to be scandalous and disgraceful. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. They were persuaded not to do this by their mother. [13] Commodus was proclaimed Augustus (emperor) sometime before 17 June 177,[14] although he probably reckoned his reign back to his salutation in 176. Macrinuss popularity took another hit when he signed an ignominious peace treaty with Parthia, leading to more discontent among his eastern troops. From that moment, his short, chaotic reign would scandalize Rome. [82] The Edict of Caracalla, issued in 212, however, goes almost unnoticed in classical records. [80] These traits dominate Caracalla's image in the surviving classical literature. The way Caracalla wanted to be portrayed to his people can be seen through the many surviving busts and coins. It seems likely that he was raised in an atmosphere of Stoic asceticism, which he rejected entirely upon his accession to sole rule. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus, a popular and successful Roman general, and the younger Antonia . [35] Cassius Dio and the writers of the Augustan History say that Commodus was a skilled archer, who could shoot the heads off ostriches in full gallop, and kill a panther as it attacked a victim in the arena. Caracalla's visibility was influenced by the existence of several literary sources in French that included both translations of ancient works and contemporary works of the time. "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "The Tribunician Day during the Early Empire", "The Transmission of the Powers of the Roman Emperor from the Death of Nero in A.D. 68 to That of Alexander Severus in A.D. 235", "Tulane University "Roman Currency of the Principate", "Intrigue, Insanity, and the Reign of Commodus", "History Behind The Game Ryse: Son of Rome", "Box Set Binge: Roman Empire: Reign of Blood, The Path and Deutschland 83", "Imperial Elements in the Formula of the Roman Emperors during the First Two and a Half Centuries of the Empire", Ser. After repeated attempts on Commodus' life, Roman citizens were often killed for making him angry. In 27 BCE the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus ("the illustrious one"), and he was then known as Gaius . Who said nothing worth having comes easy? Disdaining the more philosophic inclinations of his father, Commodus was extremely proud of his physical prowess. Ulpius Marcellus was replaced as governor of Britain by Pertinax. The inscription bears the name "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus", a reference to either Caracalla or Elagabalus, but more likely to Caracalla due to his known strong association with the god. [72] Dio mentions that when Caracalla was a boy, he had a tendency to show an angry or even savage facial expression.[73]. Unlike Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian would die of natural causes in 79 CE.He and his sons, Titus and Domitian, formed what would become known as the Flavian Dynasty. This rugged soldier-emperor, an iconic archetype, was adopted by most of the following emperors, such as Maximinus Thrax, who were dependent on the support of the troops to rule the empire. [89] An example of this is his presentation of the Edict of Caracalla; the motive that Dio appends to this event is Caracalla's desire to increase tax revenue. This act, probably more than any other, shocked Rome to the core. Julius Caesar was assassinated by about 40 Roman senators on the "ides of March" (March 15) 44 B.C.E. [80] Alongside this, these contemporary sources present Caracalla as a "soldier-emperor" for his preference of the soldiery over the senators, a depiction that made him even less popular with the senatorial biographers. However, Carausius' revolt actually happened about seventy years after Caracalla's death in 217. after the Second Punic War. The Iseum and Serapeum in Alexandria were apparently renovated during Caracalla's co-rule with his father Septimius Severus. Cruel and tyrannical Emperor Caligula ruled Ancient Rome through fear and terror. When Geta died in 211, Julia Domna's responsibilities increased, because Caracalla found administrative tasks to be mundane. At the end of June, a mob demonstrated against Cleander during a horse race in the Circus Maximus: he sent the Praetorian Guard to put down the disturbances, but Pertinax, who was now City Prefect of Rome, dispatched the Vigiles Urbani to oppose them. Photograph by ATLANTIDE PHOTOTRAVEL/CORBIS/CORDON PRESS. His victories were often welcomed by his bested opponents, as bearing scars dealt by the hand of an emperor was considered a mark of fortitude. For centuries, becoming emperor of the Roman Empire was an enticing prospect, and numerous people . Learn about the rise and fall of this ancient civilization and how its influence still endures today. Notorious for hedonism and sacrilege, the excesses of Elagabalus were too much, even for the Roman Empire. Speidel, "Commodus the God-Emperor and the Army,", This page was last edited on 15 April 2023, at 18:46. Lucilla's husband, Pompeianus, was not involved, but two men alleged to have been her lovers, Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus (the consul of 167, also her first cousin) and Appius Claudius Quintianus, attempted to murder Commodus as he entered a theater. Caesar's death resulted in a long series of civil wars that ended in the death of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire. He also had the head of the Colossus of Nero adjacent to the Colosseum replaced with his own portrait, gave it a club, placed a bronze lion at its feet to make it look like Hercules Romanus, and added an inscription boasting of being "the only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times one thousand men".[25]. A eunuch who served as Bassianuss tutor, Gannys, would become a general, and would defeat Macrinus in Antioch, in modern-day Turkey, less than a month later. Dara returned, but this time Aurangzeb and Murad had him killed. [16], On 23 December 176, the two imperatores celebrated a joint triumph. He sold (and bestowed entry to) Senate seats, army commands, governorships, and increasingly, suffect consulships, to the highest bidder. Geta died in his mother's arms. Dio also often referred to Caracalla's large military expenditures and the subsequent financial problems this caused. [13] Geta was himself granted the rank of Augustus and tribunician powers in September or October 209. [80] This portrayal of Caracalla is only further supported by the murder of his brother Geta and the subsequent massacre of Geta's supporters that Caracalla ordered. Claudius, in full Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, original name (until 41 CE) Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, (born August 1, 10 bce, Lugdunum [Lyon], Gauldied October 13, 54 ce), Roman emperor (41-54 ce), who extended Roman rule in North Africa and made Britain a province. The evidence for this exists in two inscriptions found near the temple that appear to bear their names. Early in 188, Cleander disposed of the current praetorian prefect, Atilius Aebutianus, and took over supreme command of the Praetorian Guard at the new rank of a pugione ("dagger-bearer"), with two praetorian prefects subordinate to him. All rights reserved. The Emperor and his son then travelled to Athens, where they were initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Wood also notes the similarity between Caracalla and his crimes leading to his assassination and the eventual uprising against, and death of, King Louis XVI: both rulers had died as a result of their apparent tyranny. At the urging of his mistress Marcia, Commodus had Cleander beheaded and his son killed. land of the Afri That summer Caracalla began to attack the countryside east of the Tigris in the Parthian war of Caracalla. [5] He was the son of the reigning emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelius' first cousin, Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter of Emperor Antoninus Pius, who had died only a few months before. Despite being emperor, he continued in his role as high priest throughout his reign. the power and influence of Rome's Vestal Virgins, garum, the funky fish sauce of ancient Rome, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Lurid sexual encounters, extravagant stunts and parties, and, in a dramatic break with Roman tradition, forced worship of Elah-Gabal in spectacular public rituals marked his four years on the throne. [13] The year 208 was the year of his third and Geta's second consulship. Vespasian was Roman emperor from 69 to 79 CE. Here's what to know about aquaculture. Like Decius before him, he . When he fought fellow gladiators, they would purposely submit. After this had succeeded, Caracalla felt the need to repay the gods of Rome by returning the favour to the people of Rome through a similarly grand gesture. [10] Among his teachers, Onesicrates, Antistius Capella, Titus Aius Sanctus, and Pitholaus are mentioned.[10][11]. [16] It was then that he banished his wife, whose later killing might have been carried out under Caracalla's orders. This in effect made the antoninianus equal to about 1.5denarii. Share. The section on the teenage emperor was supposedly written by one Aelius Lampridius. His chief interest was sport: he took part in horse racing, chariot racing, and combat with beasts and men, mostly in private but occasionally in public. Valentinian got so mad at some Quadi Envoys that he had an aneurysm and dropped dead. The country has sent thousands of lion skeletons to Asialegally. He was not an inspired combatant. On 15 October 184, at the Capitoline Games, a Cynic philosopher publicly denounced Perennis before Commodus. After Nero's death, Rome was plunged into chaos. Severus . The Praetorian Guard, the emperor's elite military bodyguard, was busy auctioning off the empire. [30][31], His original name was Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus. Commodus' assassination in 192, by a wrestler in the bath who held him underwater, marked the end of the NervaAntonine dynasty. He also reduced the silver purity from 79percent to 76percent the silver weight dropping from 2.57grams to 2.34grams. Valentinian expected no less of them than, essentially, getting on one knee, kissing the ring, and assuming all guilt. [27] He went north to the German frontier to deal with the Alamanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes who had broken through the limes in Raetia. In Emesa, modern-day Homs in Syria, a conical black mono- lith called Elah-Gabalgod of the mountainwas venerated. [81] The Baths of Caracalla are presented in classical literature as unprecedented in scale, and impossible to build if not for the use of reinforced concrete. The east and west began to gradually drift apart as . The consensus was that it was below his office to participate as a gladiator. [98] The history professors Molefi Asante and Shaza Ismail note that Caracalla is known for the disgraceful nature of his rule, stating that "he rode the horse of power until it nearly died of exhaustion" and that though his rule was short, his life, personality, and acts made him a notable, though likely not beneficial, figure in the Roman Empire. As a result, Commodus appeared more rarely in public, preferring to live on his estates. Later that year he adopted as his full style Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius (the order of some of these titles varies in the sources). 26. level 1. On coins, the stone figure is adorned with crowns and garlands and escorted by an eagle, symbol of his celestial power. His reign is commonly thought as marking the end of a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of the Roman Empire (the Pax Romana). Maximinus I. Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7. However, the following year a detachment of soldiers from Britain (they had been drafted to Italy to suppress brigands) also denounced Perennis to the emperor as plotting to make his own son emperor (they had been enabled to do so by Cleander, who was seeking to dispose of his rival), and Commodus gave them permission to execute him as well as his wife and sons. ), Above all, Elagabalus had a reputation for giving free rein to his sexual impulses and took many lovers of both sexes. (Read about chariot racing during the Roman Empire.). In 217 a soldier assassinated Caracalla, and a usurper, General Macrinus, took his place. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU. In December, he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on 1 January. Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10. Herodian's Roman History F.L. There does not appear to have been any intentional mutilation of Caracalla in any images that were created during his reign as sole emperor. In 186, he further reduced the purity and silver weight to 74percent and 2.22grams respectively, being 108 to the Roman pound. His reign is commonly thought as marking the end of a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of the Roman Empire (the . Which emperor killed the most? On 27 November 176, Marcus Aurelius bestowed the title of Imperator on Commodus. [47] On other occasions, Commodus killed three elephants on the floor of the arena by himself,[48] and a giraffe.[49]. 7 hands-on food and drink experiences to try in Italy, Behind the fairytales: a journey into the Black Forest, Hitting new heights: learn how to be an Alpinist in Chamonix. [6] He may have begun wearing it during his campaigns on the Rhine and Danube. Notorious for hedonism and sacrilege, the excesses of Elagabalus were too much, even for the Roman Empire. Backed by the military and false claims of parentage, Julia Maesa managed to get her way. [4][5][1] According to the 4th century historian Aurelius Victor in his Epitome de Caesaribus, he became known by the agnomen "Caracalla" after a Gallic hooded tunic that he habitually wore and made fashionable. [6][25] Geta's image was removed from all paintings, coins were melted down, statues were destroyed, his name was struck from papyrus records, and it became a capital offence to speak or write Geta's name. But while the stories about him are, without doubt, exaggerated, they have continued to inspire art, literature,and drama down to the present day. See, Dio, Cassius, 73.1.2, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary, Dio, Cassius, 73.5.3, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary. The legions were renamed Commodianae, the fleet which imported grain from Africa was termed Alexandria Commodiana Togata, the Senate was entitled the Commodian Fortunate Senate, his palace and the Roman people themselves were all given the name Commodianus, and the day on which these reforms were decreed was to be called Dies Commodianus. He was assassinated in A.D. 69, a year of low rainfall on the Roman frontier, where the troops were stationed. A Syrian oracle had once warned Elagabalus that he should expect a short life and violent death. Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA) Maximinius Thrax ruled briefly as the Roman emperor from 235 CE to his death in 238 CE. [66], Caracalla's mania for Alexander went so far that he visited Alexandria while preparing for his Persian invasion and persecuted philosophers of the Aristotelian school based on a legend that Aristotle had poisoned Alexander. [7] When Caracalla was murdered, Julia Domna was in Antioch sorting out correspondence, removing unimportant messages from the bunch so that when Caracalla returned, he would not be overburdened with duties. (Read about Zenobia, the rebel queen of Syria who took on Rome. Young Bassianus did bear a striking family resemblance to Caracalla, although he was, in fact, just a cousin. [23], Caracalla and Geta ended the Roman invasion of Caledonia after concluding a peace with the Caledonians that returned the border of Roman Britain to the line demarcated by Hadrian's Wall. Julia Maesa, sister-in-law to Septimius Severus, had an unmatched talent for intrigue and political maneuvering. [7][67] Artabanus refused the offer, realizing that the proposal was merely an attempt to unite the kingdom of Parthia under the control of Rome. He also believed himself to be a reincarnation of Hercules and enjoyed fighting in an arena as a gladiator. Macrinus succeeded him as emperor three days later. He turned out to be an incompetent general, too, leading his army to defeat against the Parthians, Romes great enemy in the Middle East. However, while the new study lays a "good groundwork" for the rainfall-assassination hypothesis, the researchers have a long way to go to support this idea, Manning said. Lucilla was over ten years his senior and held the rank of Augusta as the widow of her first husband, Lucius Verus. [75] Between 209 and their father's death in February211, both brothers are shown as mature young men who were ready to take over the empire. Die ''Terme Taurine'' von Civitavecchia ein rmisches Heilbad. Caligula: 37 - 41 AD.A bust of Caligula. [41] Dio also wrote that it was Commodus' custom to privately use deadly weapons to fight, murdering and maiming his opponents. "And that mutiny, in turn, would collapse support for the emperor and make him more prone to assassination," Christian told Live Science. On many inscriptions, the traditional order of the two nominal powers of the state, the Senate and People (Senatus Populusque Romanus) was provocatively reversed (Populus Senatusque). Elephants are learning to live with us. In the arena, Commodus' opponents always submitted to the emperor; as a result he never lost. In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth started the legend of Caracalla's role as king of Britain. For former students like those in these portraits, the reckoning has just begun. [80] Dio explicitly presented Caracalla as an emperor who marched with the soldiers and behaved like a soldier. Having been accepted as emperor by Syria, Judea and Egypt, Cassius carried on his rebellion even after it had become obvious Marcus was still alive. [18] Three days later, Macrinus declared himself emperor with the support of the Roman army. [17][28] Caracalla needed to gain and keep the trust of the military, and he did so with generous pay raises and popular gestures. Octavian was adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, and then took the name Gaius Julius Caesar. For centuries, becoming emperor of the NervaAntonine dynasty 's role as high priest his... Sole rule result, Commodus ' life, Roman citizens were often killed making. Garlands and escorted by an eagle, symbol of his physical prowess campaign... Widow of her first husband, Lucius Verus later killing might have been any intentional mutilation of Caracalla, he. By his great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, and the Army, '', page. The emperor and his son killed, in 199, he continued in his role as priest! 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